Hadrian’s defense of Dacia is followed by fifty years of peace and growth, but the prosperity of the region is founded on the labour of tens of thousands of enslaved people.

The peoples beyond the frontier threaten to overrun the provinces of Dacia and Moesia Inferior, and the new Roman emperor must race to the Danube to secure the region. This is what Roman domains looked liked north of the Danube in 124 CE after the reorganization of the region. The empire relinquished the territory it…

Having dismantled the Dacian kingdom, Trajan creates a new province out of its territory and encourages colonists from across the empire to make the land their own. Here is what the Carpathian region looked like in 109 CE following Trajan’s expansion of the empire and the founding of the first Roman city north of the…

Trajan leads an invasion of Dacia to annex the kingdom, and the Dacians fight with everything they have to maintain their independence. The map below shows the main sites of the war. The Romans launched their attack from Viminacium and Drobeta, two forts on either side of the Iron Gates. The pass at Tapae protected…

War erupts between the Dacians and Romans, and after a series of setbacks, the Dacians elect a new king to lead them to victory.

The Dacians prosper and develop a vibrant civilization centred around their capital of Sarmizegetusa.

Burebista unites the Dacian tribes and forges the most powerful kingdom in Europe, leading to both collaboration and conflict with the Roman Republic. The map below shows Buresbista’s kingdom as well as the extent of Roman expansion in the region in 44 BCE. Keep in mind that the centre of Burebista’s power was in the southwestern…

A skilled Getic ruler named Dromichaetes fends off Greek invasions during the chaotic period following the collapse of Alexander the Great’s empire.

The Greeks arrive on the shores of the Black Sea and found colonies to trade with the Getae. War soon comes to the region, however, as the Persian Empire marches an army right through the territory of the Getae on its way to battling the Scythians. The map below shows the peoples living around the…

The first narrative episode looks at the geography of present-day Romania, then follows the first nomadic peoples that arrived in the area, explains how they became a sedentary tribe called the Getae, and explores their society. The map for this episode shows the three most important geographic features of the region we’re discussing: the Carpathian Mountains,…